The Stoneway Path
by SkoripiElda
Summary: A story following Luke Stoneway on his path to... greatness? (The first chapter does not actually follow Luke, merely sets the scene)
1. 0: Introduction

Pokémon does not belong to me, I make no money from this. Original characters are mine, I make no money from them either.

Oo===0===oO

Do you know what is is, when a country goes Dark? It's not an official term. The word seeped into use, spreading from some hack who got five seconds of air on local TV, until everyone was whispering it in their houses and muttering it in the streets.

When a country goes dark, all communications in and out cease, virtually overnight. Phone lines are cut or rerouted. Journalists who dare step foot over the border, in the vain hope of finding the scoop that will make them big, never come back, or if they do they come back with nothing. Military drones are shot down. No one is allowed in, or out.

When the first Country went Dark, the world didn't really know how to cope. Yes, oil and coal were running low, but nothing to panic over. Nothing to imprison your population for, nothing to cause an entire nation to rise up against their neighbours with guns, knives and stones for.

Everyone was sent reeling by the ferocity of the attack. The barbaric nature of the pictures recovered. Huge tracts of land left abandoned and wasted, simply for another year's supply of power.

Imagine the surprise when another country dropped off the grid shortly afterwards. When we finally forced access, we found an entire government had been destroyed in the vain hope that the rich had been stockpiling.

Other counties started to fear their people. Some tried to appease them by openly revealing the dire power situation. Others tried to cover it up. By the end of the decade, all were arming themselves for war.

It was quite simple, really. If your neighbour had something you didn't, you marched over there, and you took it. Civility was gone. Peace was gone. There was the ever present danger that you'd wake up, drowning in smoke as a marauding band of looters ignited your house for refusing to pay the crime lord's taxes.

Some say that we were the worst. Back then, we thought so too. Our own people were repressed, enslaved, used. There were whispers that the underworld lords and ladies were financed by the institution that swore to protect us as a cheap method of crowd control.

The only way out was to join the army, to serve the new Federation. You can imagine how we reacted. We were told that we would be helping to save our families. I don't see what part of saving or families comes under murder. And that was just me. Others did worse things. On orders or for pleasure.

I was promoted to Sergeant. Sergeant Stoneway. I made a token effort to control the men under my watch, but they were bored. Restless. They deserved their fun. At least, that's what I told myself.

In the end, we thought we'd won. We had marched, carrying the flag of the Federation to the mountains and the sea, and we wept tears of joy, for the Federation had brought the entire world, or what we had of it, under it's wings of liberty. We knew there was more land out there, of course, but it was so far across the ocean that it was not feasible to leave, with the Federation only just holding on to it's new and widespread power, and we wept again for those poor souls we were unable to rescue.

We turned with heavy hearts and marched back and forth across the breadth of an empire, squashing rebellion and toppling those who were trying to bring us down. To the south, we burned the earth to lock off those who were trying to poison our hearts and minds, and to the north, we rampaged and butchered those who tried to poison our bodies. And when Supreme President Parkson's reach was secure, when the decade of infighting and civil war finally come to it's end, we cheered, for finally, we could be at peace. Finally, the surviving world was united.

Once again, we turned our gaze to the sea. We knew that there where other lands out there, lands we had not spread the Federation to. People that deserved to feel our warmth. Deserved to feel safe at night. We enlisted the help of towns up and down the coast, and assembled a wooden fleet the likes of which had not been seen for hundreds of years. When word rode in with the go-ahead, we launched across the waves.

When we landed, we pillaged and slaughtered those that stood arrayed against us. If the people would not join the Federation, we would not let them stand. After what must have been the most bitterly violent month of my life, we reached a new town just as it was evacuated. _Good, _we thought, _they're afraid_. But the next town wasn't just empty. It was dangerous. Pitfalls. Mines. Rabid dogs, mad with some plague that we could not fight. The deeper into their territory we marched, the worse the local fauna became. We found out later, much later, that some sort of biological warhead had been unleashed on this side of the pond, with disastrous effects on the wildlife. The virus was meant to be unable to survive outside a host. Be containable.

_Starve them out_, they'd thought. _Create animals that hunt their livestock_.

In the end, containable changed to controllable.

Eventually, when we were attacked in the night by eleven foot cobras whose bite could do anything from freeze your arm solid to send enough electricity through your veins to fry you, we gave the order to retreat.

Bad move.

Turns out the virus, whatever it was, could be carried by humans, undetectable without pre-war medical equipment. And once we hit shore, it spread faster than we could. When the retaliatory strike came, riding beasts capable of taking bullets and firing back with storms of fire and earth, we were unprepared. I don't think it was possible to be prepared. They marched to our capital. They had some sort of weapon far more subtle than we could have imagined. Where they marched, our own people became blank eyed robots. Empty inside, and dead in every way that counts.

We were forced to mow them down, and when their king, their Champion, stepped out from the carnage, tore our leader apart _with his fucking mind_ and demanded our surrender, what choice did we have?

Communications are up. Somehow. Their beasts can generate electricity. Somehow.

Somehow.

It's a word we're all using a lot.

A word we were all using a lot.

The war has been over for years now. I went for a drink to ease my stiff arm, and saw a kid playing with something I knew was quite capable of tearing a man shoulder to groin and filling the remains with acid. It's a lot to get used to. I still have my old Federation flag, hidden under the rug. They say Parkson's son escaped with a squad into the hills. No one knows what they do, but everyone knows there are some mountains you just don't travel to. They remind me of the Dark zones. Just too much trouble.

They even named the monsters, you know? Like pets. Like they weren't the scariest _motherfuckers_ to ever walk the earth. There are kids now who've never seen a real animal. Just these... these...

Do you know what the worst part is? The most terrifying thing? I still have my contacts. Guys who served under me and men I served under. I've heard about scientists working on getting the compression technology that was mere moths too late for the war, fully portable.

When they succeed, then there will be nothing stopping people carrying these monsters anywhere in containers the size of apricots. Monsters so powerful that four men, each armed with less than five managed to bring down our entire defence network in ten minutes. And there'll be nothing stopping a ten year old boy from wandering the world with a herd of these monsters in his pocket.

Oo===0===oO

Reviews are welcome, Flames will be set alight. This chapter is significantly different to how the rest of the story will be, and mostly just sets up background for the world.


	2. 1: Having a Ball

Pokémon does not belong to me, I make no money from this. Original characters are mine, I make no money from them either.

Chapter one: Having a Ball

Oo===I===oO

Grandfather told stories, sometimes, of the shaping of the regions. He talked about a war. A war so great and powerful that it erased all that had gone before it. The story has apparently been passed down for generations, father to son, grandfather to grandson. It always starts the same, but the details change a little each telling.

"More than a thousand years ago..." he'd say, and then set off, in his creaky, weary voice. I knew the story by heart now. And it's a good thing too. Dad was never that interested in stories, and grandfather passed some time ago. He was under the impression that I was about to set off on my journey, and had been filling my head with tales of his days of glory. The funeral had been... interesting, to say the least. Kyu, the old man's Ninetales who'd lost one long ago in battle, had decided it was going to be a cremation, not a burial, and then calmly stepped into the blaze to join his master.

I hadn't left that year. There was too much to do. Grandfathers absence was felt too strongly. And really, was twelve too different to eleven? I'd leave with the next batch.

Then Dad was called into Silph corporation. Better job, more money, but it would require travelling between the regions. He stopped by, now and then, but I couldn't leave. Not when mum needed all the help she could get. With the first bigger pay check, they sat me down together and made me a promise- I'd leave as soon as everything was settled, with a day long stay in the Safari Zone up by Lilycove. Can you imagine how exited I was? There were all sorts of really rare Pokémon in there! I could get anything I wanted! They told me that they'd take me as soon as they could, and I'd be a real trainer. I spent most of a year planning which Pokémon I'd catch. I'd get my entire team there, I thought to myself, and start with six. They'd be the best Pokémon ever.

I always knew I'd have six. What was the point in more?

Then there was those two years where team Magma and Aqua rose to power. They were put down by some girl younger than me in the end. There was brief coverage by the news, then she dropped off the grid, gone to train in Johto or something. They called her a prodigy. I called her lucky. I will admit that may have been tinged with some envy on my part.

Then there was the whole big mystery in Kalos. Some nearly averted worldwide disaster, or discovery of a national treasure, depending on who you asked. Then the new champion was crowned, the youngest in a very long time. Apparently, he was already throwing Kalos' weight around, stepping on a great many league toes.

After that, mum wanted to move to somewhere more out of the way. In the end, she and dad settled on Littleroot town. When that year's collectors went round, I barely noticed. I had kinda given up hope of ever becoming a trainer by that point, and my parents' promise seemed to me, in my childishness, to mean nothing to them. I was thinking about maybe going to study in Unova.

On my seventeenth birthday, six years later than the normal training age, I came downstairs to see both mum and dad in the living room. Dad looked like he'd only just got back, and mum looked years younger with him home again. I smiled at them.

"Happy birthday Luke!" they chorused. Dad's Charizard, Marietta, peered in the window and rumbled approvingly. I grinned at her and walk over to my parents. Mum's smile looked slightly odd, a little bit forced. Dad's, by comparison, looked positively boyish with excitement.

We sat down together for a birthday breakfast, but the conversation was stilted and slightly off. Eventually, dad let his cutlery fall with a clatter. Mum jumped at the sudden noise, then glared at him. He looked towards the clock, then back at her with a questioning eyebrow. With a sigh, she nodded. I was constantly amazed by how much they could communicate. As well as the obvious, an entire sub-conversation always seemed flowed between them as they looked at each other.

Mum walked over to the kitchen counter, and picked up an envelope. It was entirely unremarkable, plain, off white, with my name on the front. Taking it, expecting a cheesy birthday card, perhaps accompanied by a bad rendition of Happy Birthday from a cartoon Magikarp, I slit it open with a finger. The card inside has a heard of Mamoswine on the front, looking sheepish, with a large speech bubble bearing the legend "Whoops, we forgot!"

I looked up at my parents, confused. Today was my birthday, right? Unless this was meant to be some joke I wasn't quite understanding. Dad caught my eye. 'Open it', he mouths.

Flipping the card open, an old piece of paper slid out with a soft rustle, and landed on the carpet. Bending to pick it up, I registered the camouflage print and bold lettering. I froze, my hand hovering millimetres from the ticket, and look up.

"The van leaves in an hour," whispered mum. "it'll take you to Lilycove, and stick around till you've got your Pokémon."

Six years of dreams and wonders all rushed to cram themselves out of my mouth at once, but in the end I just settled for a tight nod. I felt like I was eleven again.

Oo===I===oO

The van was really one of the large helicopters owned by the labs. Not particularly fast, it visited the northern cities twice a year, and gathered up all the kids who wanted to become trainers, bringing them back to Littleroot for the exam in the Birch Labs. Once you'd passed, you were given your licence and sent out into the world. I knew all about it. I'd watched it leave without me enough times to know every contour of it's shiny surface. It felt extremely odd to be inside it for once. The only company I has was the pilot, as kids from Littleroot just stayed in Littleroot until the exam. I wasn't exactly unhappy with this. In a few hours, we'd be making a stop in Fortree and there'd be somewhere between six and thirty noisy, annoying eleven year olds making a racket. I decided to relax while I could.

Actual sleep eluded me. Not just because of the fact I'd only been awake about two hours. Every moment was filled with wondering, researching the Pokémon I could get in the Safari Zone. One day was plenty. The Safari Zone was big, but you didn't need to travel everywhere to see a huge variety of available species. Bug types grew quickly, but plateaued early, and had several common weaknesses. Water types were also easy to find, and their resistances outweighed their weaknesses considerably. Of course, choosing all my team now would just lead to inevitable disappointment, so I try to limit my imaginings to vague "_wouldn't it be nice if"_ and trying to plan my type spread.

I moved on to wondering about the huge explosion that had originated from Kalos again, and the rumour I'd picked up about the rest of the regions getting ready to retaliate if they tried anything. Of course, it wasn't confirmed, but the league had started giving out grants to promising trainers, funding more tournaments, and introducing a weekly stipend to trainers who kept on the move to buy food, with more granted the more badges you had. When we touched down, with a suddenness that belayed the smooth flight, I was shocked to say the least. Time had flown while I'd been thinking. The door hissed open, and the pilot pulled off his headset. Half turning towards me he said

"We're going to be here a few hours, get out, stretch your legs, meet back here at four, okay?"

I nodded, stood up and cracked my back. I hadn't realised how long I'd been sitting still. Stepping out of the sleek vehicle, I looked around with a mix of amazement and bemusement at Fortree City, the City in the trees. Everyone had heard about it, of course, and it was situated on a pretty major route. Unfortunately not many who weren't experienced trainers saw it, as the only real way was to pass over the Ridge, or take a much longer route around to Mt. Pyre.

Of course, I'd have to come back here one day for the Feather Badge. I was looking forward to it already. Winona was tough but fair, according to most. I pulled myself from my musing, and headed to the Pokécentre. It would be as good a place as any to get lunch, and I may be able to get some tips from an experienced trainer.

The doors slid open with a hiss, and I looked around, slightly intimidated. There was one girl with short, dark hair, probably slightly older than me, playing with a Jolteon over by one wall, and a young boy dressed in clothing much to summery for the current weather, thanking the nurse as she passed him back his Pokéballs. After another quick glance, I headed downstairs to the canteen. Pokécenters provided cheep, filling food, with a nice discount if you had a Trainer's Licence. I didn't, yet, so I paid full price for a plate. As I sat to eat, the girl from upstairs came down, grabbed a bowl of something meaty and a bottle of water, and came and sat down across from me. It surprised me, seeing as every other seat was available, but I just passed it off as she felt like some company. She kept quiet though, so I did too.

When she was nearly finished, she lowered the bowl to the seat next to her, and the Jolteon jumped up and started picking out choice pieces. She looked over at me for a few seconds, then asked in a surprisingly soft voice

"I take that you're here for the gym? I don't suppose you want a warm up battle?"

The Jolteon looked up at the mention of battle, its fur bristling, it's eyes bright. Of _course_ she thought I was already a trainer. Why would a seventeen year old be in Fortree if not for a badge? I could feel my cheeks colouring already, and I looked away.

"I'm not..." I broke off, coughing as I inhaled a grain of rice. As if it wasn't bad enough already. I tried again, "I'm not a trainer yet." At her confused look, I hurried on, "I will be soon, just not... yet."

She accepted this readily enough, but after what must have been about eight years of travelling the roads with Pokémon, she'd probably seen enough weirder things than me to fill a book.

The conversation pretty much died there for a while, but in the end, when she stood to go, I blurted out

"Could I see your team?" she looked at me with a quizzical expression. I felt embarrassed again. Oh well. It's not like I'd ever see her again.

"It's just, I want to do well, and if I mess up my team I don't have the excuse of being eleven, and I just thought if I saw a few real teams it could help," as she continued to look at me I ducked my head and muttered "or something."

"I didn't have the excuse of being eleven either, you know" she said after a few moments of silence. "It's not as uncommon as you think, to start late. Come outside, I'll introduce you. I'm Bethany, by the way, thanks for asking" she said with a grin. I ducked my head even more, and followed her up the escalator and outside. She pointed the the Jolteon following loyally behind her.

"This is Jolteon. I've raised him from an Eevee. He was my starter," she bragged, then held up another ball. "This is Markus, my Gyarados. For obvious reasons, I can't really let him out here, but he's usually on my team. And this guy," she gave a rueful smile and let out a tiny Sabaleye that immediately started swinging it's odd head around, looking for something

"I got this guy a month or two back, and I'm training him to be up to the others' level."

She recalled it, and set the three balls back in her belt.

"That's it? You only have three?" if she was offended by the bluntness of my question, she didn't show it.

"The other seven are a bit more temperamental, so I cant really train Sable with them." she brushed her hair over her ear, and set her thin lips in a line. She looked cute when she was annoyed. "He doesn't behave well enough to let him anywhere near the rest of them. Not yet, anyway"

I was left wondering what could be more temperamental than a Gyarados as she kept talking, explaining about how she had left on her journey at thirteen, having finally saved enough money for the Eevee she'd seen for sale. We walked back inside to escape the mild chill, and I was enraptured by some of the tales she'd picked up over her time as a trainer. We were both left laughing at her tale about the Magmar she'd met when she'd spent some time in Kanto.

"...And then," she said, struggling to keep a straight face, "I looked right up at the Officer Jenny and said 'Can I help you officer?'" and with a final snort, we both gave in to a fit of giggling like preschoolers who'd found a wild Wurmple.

After we'd calmed down, she pulled out a PokéNav.

"You have one of these?"

I nod and pull out mine. It was a year or two old, but it's still workable. I'd see about getting a new one when I got back to Littleroot, or when I inevitably reached Rustboro.

"Good,"

Bethany pushed a small button on hers, and my screen lit up, indicating an new contact number.

"Give me a call sometime Luke," she smiled at me "We'll have that warm up battle some day"

Okay, maybe I had a small crush developing for the pretty, slightly older, well travelled girl with the mysterious but no doubt powerful team. So sue me.

I glanced up at the clock, and swore suddenly. Shouting hurried apologies to Bethany, I sprinted out of the centre towards the Van. The pilot was not happy with me. I endured several minutes of shouting about tight schedules before he lapsed into terse silence as he began to lift off. It looked like we'd picked up a smaller batch than I had expected. Two eleven year olds that alternated between whispering excitedly to each other and staring out of the windows in either wonder or horror, and one slightly older boy, probably between twelve or thirteen. He was looking around nervously, clenching a worn-looking Pokéball in his hand. He expanded it, looked at it for a few seconds, then shrunk it again, apparently looking at how the scratches and marks shifted as it changed.

I settled down for a wait. It would be a short while before we arrived in Lilycove, where we would stay overnight. Well, everyone else would be. I would be headed straight for the Safari Zone, and saying there till I had my team.

I let the dreams of what Pokémon I was going to catch fill my mind for the hour flight.

I stayed just long enough to listen to the general safety warning from the pilot. He told everyone they were welcome to stay on the van overnight, or seek accommodations elsewhere, but warned us, with a dirty look at me, to be back on board at 9am _sharp_.

I took off down route 121 at a flat out sprint. Not exactly the wisest move maybe, but I was exited. My dreams had had six years to formulate, and they were all about to come to fruition.

Oo===I===oO

I arrived at the Safari with a painful stitch, out of breath, and with a huge grin on my face. Feeling a momentary flutter of horror, I scrabbled in my pockets for my ticket, finding it tucked into my wallet. The doors open with a pleasant tinkle, causing the man behind the desk to look up. He pulled his legs off the desk and pushed the corner of his magazine's page down.

"Can I help you?"

His words broke me from my temporary reverie, but I still stole glances around at the many curious things that were hung on walls or displayed in cabinets as I walked over to him.

"Do you have a booking, or..?" he asked when I reached the counter. I pulled the ticket back out, and placed it on the table. It suddenly looked very ragged around the edges.

"It's quite old," I rush to explain before he gets any ideas. About what, I didn't exactly know. "But it should still be valid."

The man, David, who was happy to help according to his name tag, took the ticket and scanned it quickly with some hand held device. The screen next to him beeped, and he glanced down, peering at some inscrutable detail. His eyebrows rose slightly as he muttered under his breath,

"That is a lot of extensions..."

He looked back up at me, and gave a short nod to himself, "That's all in order, and assuming you are L. Stoneway, I can welcome to the Safari Zone. Now, before you go rushing off, I need to go over a few things with you."

I nodded, expecting this. You don't keep a huge reserve of wild Pokémon who could all kill a human relatively easily, and just let people wander around without some sort of safety briefing.

"First, how old are you?"

"Seventeen" I reply.

"Okay then. You're over sixteen, so you are allowed nearly unrestricted access to the zone, Zones one through to eight are open to you. You are not, however, allowed in Zone nine or ten. If you are found in either of these Zones, you will immediately be ejected from the Safari, do I make myself clear?"

I nodded. I did NOT want to lose my chance here.

"Now, can I see your badges please?"

"I don't have any. Yet. I don't have any yet." I correct myself at his look. He types some information into his computer.

"Okay then. No badges. I'm afraid that means I'm going to have to insist you stay out of Zones five, six, seven and eight." He notices my expression. "Sorry man. It's for your own protection"

I nod past the hard weight in my stomach. Why did I have a feeling this was going to get worse?

"Can I see your Trainer's License?"

Ah, yeah. There it was.

"I'm sorry," I replied, "I don't have one."

He looked at me with incredulity in his eyes, then made one, rather violent keystroke.

"So, you're only an enthusiast, not a real trainer?" He carried on without waiting for me to answer the question. "In that case, I have to lower the limit on the number of balls we can allow you. Normally it's twenty, but seeing as you're not allowed access to the PC system, I cant let you have the opportunity to carry more than six Pokémon, so I can only let you have up to six balls in total. You must now declare any Pokémon you have on you, so I can take them away from your total. As I'm sure you are aware, carrying more than Six filled balls is a class two League offence, so lying to me now would be a very bad idea."

He looked at me expectantly. I mutely shook my head. He laughed under his breath. "...of course you don't." a little louder, he continued.

"If you have no team to protect you, I'm going to have to ask you to stay out of areas two, three, and five and up. Seeing as you're already prohibited from most of those, that shouldn't effect you too much. Got all that?"

I nod, again. That meant I could go into areas one, right outside of the building, and area four, the area directly to the north.

"Good. Now, just because you can take up to six balls, doesn't mean you have to. How many do you want?"

I look at him in confusion.

"Six, please."

He nods, taps some more on the excessively loud keyboard, and says

"That will be three thousand Zenny then."

My stomach drops. My dreams, already creaking under the burden, come crashing down around me.

_I need to buy the balls too? I don't have any money!_

"How much are the balls individually?"

"Well," He pulled up something on his monitor, "The first five balls come in a bundle for three thousand which also covers one day's worth of emergency rations and the hiring of a distress radio, both of which are mandatory, the next five cost one hundred each, and after that it's fifty each. So, if you were an actual trainer and wanted to take fifteen, that'd be three thousand seven hundred and fifty."

there was no way in hell I could afford any of that. I barely had eighty on me for food.

"Hang on," I said, when one of his words circled back round my head, "You just said it was three thousand for five balls, but a minute ago you said it would cost me three thousand for six?"

He looked at me for a second, then back at his screen. He reached under his desk.

"Your ticket comes with one free ball."

I nodded, and held out my hand

He rolled it over the table at me, then pressed a buzzer to open the doors.

"I'm waiving the food and radio restrictions because you will NOT be leaving areas one or four for ANY reason. Do you understand me?"

One ball.

Well, that's all I'd need, right? Sure, I'd need a bit of luck too, but I can do loads with one ball.

I walked out of the doors into the bright, hot sunlight of the Zone, ignoring the muted mutter of "damned reckless amateur" from behind me. I took a deep breath of the scent filled air. Looking around, I seemed to be in a huge clearing, with a load of thick grass in the middle. I thought I could make out a PokéFeeder in the centre, but I didn't want any of the things that would be here. I wanted the really rare stuff, especially as I only have the one shot. To the north, I could make out a large hill of some sort that should still lie in area 4. I headed towards it, meandering to avoid patches of denser wood and small ponds. I saw quite a few Pokémon, but they were either too far away or not what I wanted.

I could see the hill clearly after half an hour of hard walking. It had some sort of bike track on it. That looked a good a place as any to begin really searching, far enough from the entrance that passive catchers wouldn't have got everything, close enough to the beaten track that there shouldn't be any really aggressive Pokémon roaming free. It took about another half an hour of hiking to get to where a wanted, a sheltered patch of short grass, with a good view of the trees and the long grass nearby.

After only a few minutes of waiting, I saw something worthwhile, a large male Girafarig. It looked to be pretty strong, and a few small scrapes along it's flanks showed it wasn't adverse to battle. While a slightly odd choice, it would certainly do for a good starter. Not many people had psychics right off the bat, and it would give me an easy advantage on any fighting types, which were pretty common.

Mind set, I grabed the lonely ball from my belt, and stood up quickly as soon as it turned away from me. The head on it's tail focused on me, and the Girafarig fled instantly.

Damn.

I settled back down to wait again, resolved to learn from my mistake.

The next hour was pretty boring. Nothing really came near for a while, then anything that did wasn't something I wanted. I looked for anything I could do. My eyes were drawn towards the row of trees to my left. Didn't I see something about this on some TV show a while ago? Bug Pokémon are drawn to tree sap, I remembered, and excitedly rushed over to a good looking tree. Hefting a large rock, I tore a chunk of bark away from the wood, revealing a sticky layer of sweet smelling syrup.

"That's got to work" I muttered to myself.

I tested the wind, determined to make this a perfect catch. It was blowing across the reserve, along the side of the mountain further north. I found a good patch of grass, and sat down to wait, carefully eyeing the path that I thought was most likely for a Pokémon to arrive by.

I didn't have a very long wait, although I would have had a shorter one if I'd been watching the tree instead of the road. I glanced at the tree in question, then froze I registered what I saw. A majestic Pinsir was chewing at the tree. He was a perfect specimen of his kind, stocky and strong looking, with a wickedly sharp looking pair of horns. His eyes were pressed against the tree in his efforts to get at the sap, and the wind wasn't blowing my scent towards him. This would be my best chance.

I brought everything I'd ever been taught about a catch to mind, and stood smoothly, not attracting it's attention. I held the ball loosely in my left hand, and leant forwards, expanding it into it's primed state. I tossed the ball high over my head in the way that had always so annoyed my friends whenever we were practising, catching it with my right hand. I pulled my weight back onto my back leg, and stood tall and balanced on it, the ball held out in front of me.

_Start to lean_, I thought, as I shifted my weight forwards, _then snap out_, and I fell forwards a step, hurling the ball at a place just a few feet in front of the Pinsir so that it would bounce straight at it, just as it always had in the garden I had practised in.

Unfortunately, the Safari Zone was significantly less even than the garden. The ball flew directly to where I wanted it too, then bounced off to the left into a thick patch of long grass. There was a bright flash of light and noise, then nothing.

Completely forgetting about the Pinsir, I sprinted over to where the ball had disappeared. It was rocking back and forth violently, almost flipping right over as whatever I'd caught struggled desperately to break free. After five seconds of this, I was getting worried. After ten, I was seriously alarmed. Nearly thirty seconds of rotations and bounces later, that had transported the ball a good foot away from where it had started, it settled down, rocking gently three times before the ball let out a disappointingly anticlimactic _click_.

I had done it. I had caught a Pokémon.

Oo===I===oO

A great many of thanks to my Beta Reader Thaumologist. Any remaining mistakes are my fault alone.

I haven't got any chapters of this saved up, so updates will likely be slow.


	3. 2: The Height of Achievement

Pokémon does not belong to me, I make no money from this. Original characters are mine, I make no money from them either.

This one's been sitting around for a while, waiting to be Beta'd by someone without dyslexia, and I'm still not entirely sure about it, but here we go.

Chapter Two: the Height of Achievement

Oo===II===oO

I sat in the stifling hall of Birch Labs, exam paper lying on the table before me. It wasn't exactly difficult, but my mind kept skipping from telling poisonous berries from medicinal ones, to the still unopened ball clasped shut at the bottom of my bag. I hadn't been allowed to open it before we'd left Lilycove, having slept in, and the van had only had one more, short stop in Pacifidlog. When we got back to Littleroot, I'd barely had a minute to drop off my bag at home before we were whisked off to the labs for this.

I risked a quick glance around. There was over a hundred trainer hopefuls sitting in the hall around me, and the slow scratching of pan on paper was hardly helping me to concentrate. A number of the younger ones seemed to be mildly panicking, as were some of the older, first timers. A few who had obviously sat the test before but failed sat, looking bored, their booklets closed in front of them. The test never changed. It wasn't like the colouration of Oran Berries changed that dramatically each year.

Speaking of which... I circled the bright blue, oval berry for the last question on the Medicinal page, then turned over to the Survival section.

Question twelve, how to light a fire with the following materials.

I sketched a quick diagram, and noted down some instructions, before my mind was pulled back once again to the camouflaged ball. What did it contain? The safari zone was full of imports, so it would be virtually impossible to make an actuate guess, but the ball had landed in some thick grass near the tree line, so it was unlikely to be a water type that was helpless on land. Smaller bug types often lived in thick grass, and there were rumours of a tribe of Pikachu somewhere in the Zone. An electric type would be a cool starter. Maybe a Natu? They lived in grass, and were pretty common in the Zones.

"Ten minutes remaining" came a voice from the front. I jumped, and hurried to finish. I would not be delayed in leaving again just because I didn't pass the test.

When the Professor's Aid came up our row to mark the papers, I carefully inscribed my name in the provided box, then handed it to his waiting hand. I waited with baited breath as he swept over it with some hand-held scanner. The screen glowed blue, and a processing bar filled in a few seconds. There was a small double bleep, and a whir as a credit card sized piece of plastic dropped out of a slot. The Aid deftly caught it and handed it to me.

"Congratulations on becoming a Pokémon trainer, Trainer Stoneway."

I'd done it. I had actually, finally done it. There was my trainer licence, that tiny card that allowed me to travel the routes, to use the PC system and to challenge the Gyms. I flipped it over to look at the back. There was a small picture of me, my signature from the paper, and eight, tiny electronic slots to register when I had my badges. I looked back at the front. The heavy type words, my name, printed neatly, and the League oath.

I looked up to thank the Aid, but he'd already moved on and was several people away. There were a number of seats empty, but many people had stayed. Some looked happy, clutching cards similar to mine, some looked annoyed, holding slips of paper indicating the need for an oral exam, and some looked downright miserable, their hands empty. I tried to muster up some sympathy for those that had failed, but I was too happy with my own success to succeed for very long, so I swiftly left, practically running through the clean halls, anxious to get home and to the ball lying at the bottom of my pack.

I hurried out of the Labs, clutching the small slip of plastic so hard it dug into the skin of my hands, leaving a thin red line. As soon as I was free, I sprinted towards home as fast as possible. Half way there, I stopped, put my hands on my knees, and panted hard for several moments, before making it the rest of the way at a more sensible pace. I waved at Charlie, the only friend I'd made who hadn't left yet, for his own reasons, but didn't stop to talk. He shouted after me

"You're acting more like an eleven year old than the real ones!" but I didn't care. I don't think I could've cared if I tried. I had six years of waiting to make up for, I was allowed to be exited.

I almost ran straight past the gate to my garden, lashing my hand out at the last moment to snatch the wooden fence and hurl myself almost directly ninety degrees to the side. The cobbled paving slapped hard against the soles of my feet, and I fumbled for my key, almost dropping it twice, before finally getting the door open. My parents were standing there, half exited, half worried. Their faces cleared the moment they saw my expression, but I held up my new licence as proof anyway.

There were congratulations and hugs, but I was only half paying attention. My dad noticed my pained face as mum pulled me into yet another round, and he gently pulled her away.

"Come on Sue, let him see his Pokémon. We mere parents must wait." he gave a soft grin, and made a small shooing motion. I didn't need to be told twice, and took the stairs two at a time.

Now. Now is when I finally got to see. I threw it over a day ago, and I still had no idea what was contained in that ball.

I scrabbled for a minute, until my fingers closed on the shrunken orb. I pulled it out, and held it close to my face, memorising every facet of it's surface. Not that there was much to memorise. It was whole, unblemished. The camouflage pattern on the top of the ball was interesting, but no different to any other safari ball. I tossed it up and down a few times, feeling it's weight. With a squeeze, I expanded it.

Deep breaths.

There was a moments indecision, before I released the catch and flipped the ball open. There was the oh so familiar CSHAW and the flash of red light. There was a second where the light seemed unsure of what form to take before it coalesced into a solid shape.

I blinked.

Nothing.

That couldn't be right. It couldn't be! I saw the light make a shape, but then it faded, leaving...

A red zigzag, floating in the air. What was it? Some sort of new Psychic? Or a Fairy? Something imported from Kalos? I dropped to my knees to get a closer look. The line was floating around mid-calf, and- my head impacted on something solid.

There was a distortion in the air around the line, and the full form of the Pokémon faded into view. It was mostly green, with yellow markings on it's large head and on edges of its frills. It had small, beady black eyes and a large, curling tail. It had small arms and legs, with sharp looking claws on both. It's mouth opened wide, revealing a wide, red pit, before a long tongue shot out, smacking me in the face. I fell backwards, before scrambling up, looking wildly around. It'd taken the momentary distraction to vanish.

There was a thump over by my wall, causing several books to fall from their shelf and hit something invisible. Again, the Pokémon shimmered into view, rubbing it's head. It glared at the largest book that had fallen, then slashed, ripping the front cover off.

"Hey!" I shouted, and dived for the odd Pokémon as it moved to attack the next book. It saw me coming, and disappeared again, leaving me to crash into the wall. I swept my eyes all around my room. Whatever the Pokémon was, it was adept at hiding the red zigzag that ran around it's stomach. I noticed a shifting near my bed, and saw the safari ball lift into the air, floating over the tell-tale red line. It started waving towards the door and stairs.

"Hey!" I shouted again. The ball stopped, rotated to point at me, then started waddling out at as much of a run the creature's short legs could manage. I chased it, but it was halfway down the stairs by the time I was at the top.

"Stop that ball!" my parents inquisitive faces peered out from the living area. The ball was neatly snatched out of the air by my dad, who carefully returned the odd Pokémon.

"Where did you get a Kecleon Luke? I thought you caught it in the Safari Zone? These guys are native to Hoenn."

I caught the ball as he threw it, and carefully shrunk it and placed it in my pocket.

"I did get it in the Zone. It must've snuck in after food or something."

"That's a pity. I know you wanted a rare foreign Pokémon to start your journey with"

I looked down at the shrunken ball, which I knew contained my future, and smiled to myself,

"No, I think it's perfect."

Oo===II===oO

The doorbell rang as dinner was being prepared. I opened it, not sure who to be expecting, only to be greeted by what seemed to be everyone in Littleroot who I had ever spoken to in my time in the town. The main room was filled to bursting with congratulations and advice, ranging form the useful "use dry wood when setting a fire, it produces less smoke" from our neighbour to the downright absurd suggestions shouted by Charlie. A lot of people had brought food, and the gathering soon evolved into a full on party, with people drifting in and out. Many of the other new trainers dropped by to see what was going on, but most left after a few minutes.

Charlie, myself and one of the few other new trainers who was closer to my age ignored most of it. I had been sitting in the back of the garden, simply holding my Pokéball when they'd joined me. We didn't say anything for a while, just sat, until the girl broke the silence.

"I didn't think there'd be anyone else my age," Her voice was soft, trying to be discrete yet still be heard, "let alone two others."

Charlie stiffened. I moved to distract the girl before she noticed.

"Where're you from?"

She smiled, and started telling us all about Verdanturf, while Charlie slowly relaxed.

"I'm Casey, by the way. Thanks for asking" she said as she finished. My mind flashed back to Bethany, and I flushed lightly.

"Luke"

"Charlie"

The conversation stalled for a minute, before Casey started talking again. I got the distinct impression she did that a lot.

"Have you got Pokémon yet?"

Charlie answered before I could. His tone was light enough, and I'd only known him for a year, but I had spent enough time with him to recognise that he wasn't happy with the current line of questioning.

"I'm not a trainer. Never really seen the charm."

Casey looked like she was going to ask why, but Charlie stood and went back inside.

"Don't feel too bad..." I told her, then trailed off, unsure as what to say.

She climbed to her feet, dusting herself off, and offered me her hand.

"I should probably get going if I'm going to be awake in time to get a Pokémon from the labs before the Set Off tomorrow."

She made to leave, then turned back to me as she reached the house.

"See you there." she called, then vanished inside.

I smiled to myself, then looked back down at the ball still in my hand. I considered releasing the Kecleon now, but though better of it. I wouldn't need to buy a starter, but I still wanted to be there for the Set Off. It would be a good place to pick up some experience. With that in mind, I retired upstairs and fell quickly to sleep, my future clenched in my hand under my pillow.

My mind was restless, no matter how worn my body had been, and my dreams ran amongst odd cities and forests, fleeing from some shadowed being that was always visible in the corner of my eye. Turning to keep in in view didn't help, so I pushed on, legs pumping. No matter how far I ran, the figure slowly got closer, so I reached down to my belt, desperately fumbling for my Pokémon. My fingers touched six balls, but before I could bring them to bear, the shadow flickered and disappeared. The air filled with a horrible wailing screech, and a painful weight hit me in the back, sending my sprawling. I twisted to look up at my assailant, and the shadows bled away, revealing a twisted, man like being. I raised my arm to protect myself, and his jaw distended as he leaned down to bite...

"Luke!"

I jerked awake, sweaty, cold, and with my legs twisted in my covers. The wailing still filled the air, coming from my alarm.

"Luke! You're going to be late!"

I cursed, leaping from bed, only to come crashing down as my legs reminded me that they were still trapped. I flailed my way free and had possibly the shortest shower that it was possible to have. Less than ten minutes after waking I was sprinting out of the door in new Trainer gear, with a Pokéball on my belt and a peanut butter smeared bagel in my hand, the shadow filled dream already long gone.

When I arrived at the Labs, I was greeted by a rare sight, Professor Birch himself, clad in oddly normal clothing. He looked faintly surprised to see me.

"One of the new trainers?" he asked, "I'm afraid you're a bit early."

I was confused, then checked the time on my Pokenav. When my mother had shouted that I was going to be late, she had apparently been assuming it would take me an hour to get ready. I considered heading home again, but decided against it. I chose a piece of low wall around the courtyard in the sunlight, and sat down, watching the preparations.

The Set Off was a big deal to most new trainers. Some didn't see the charm, particularly early teenagers who thought they were too cool now they had a Pokémon, but it would be good to get in a few small battles where the chance of anything getting out of hand was minimal. Even if a young Growlithe got exited, there was always an Ace Trainer or two spared by the league to keep everything under control. I looked around, trying to see the distinct red and green uniform. No one leaped out, but it was still forty minutes until the official opening. The break in the trees around Littleroot that led onto route 101 called. I could leave now, set off and finally start my journey, but I wanted to wait. I toyed with the Safari Ball, then expanded it and opened it onto the ground next to me. One of the aids looked startled, but calmed down when he saw the Kecleon, who seemed much calmer outside the house. It stretched out in the sun, little eyes closed.

It seemed quite content to sunbathe, but I wanted to talk. It was my starter, after all, and I probably hadn't made such a great impression at my house.

"Hey," I started. The Kecleon's eyes snapped open, and it glared at me, before rolling onto its side and resolutely shutting it's eyes once again. Wonderful.

Well, I _had_ woken rather suddenly this morning, and you know what they say. If you can't beat them, join them. I leaned back, pulled out a hat from my bag, pulled it low over my eyes, and settled down for a wait.

I let my mind wander, even as I kept half an eye on the apparently sleeping Pokémon next to me. A Kecleon was hardly how I had expected my team to start, but from what little I could recall they could be very tricky fighters, able to learn a huge variety of moves. Once he was fully grown, he would be a pain for any opponent to counter. Or rather, he would be able to counter any opponent. This left me with more freedom than I had been expecting for the rest of my team.

Time slipped past quickly, and it wasn't long before a few other beginning trainers started to show up, some settling down like me, some pacing nervously. Only one of the half dozen or so first trainers to arrive let out her starter, an obviously imported Litleo. She sat with it on her lap, petting it's burgeoning mane. The courtyard slowly got more and more crowded, until the press of exited and nervous trainers was obviously making Kecleon uncomfortable, so I returned him.

I glanced at the time, and with a thrill realised it was only about five minutes until the official opening of the route. I pulled myself taller, looking out over the sea of happy faces. The clear majority was at the younger age ranges, but there was a solid amount of older trainers present. As I kept looking around, I felt a hand land on my arm and pull me around. I looked down into the beaming face of Casey and grinned, happy to see a vaguely familiar face, even if I'd only met her once.

"Hey Luke!"

"Hey Casey. You all set to go?" I was determined I would not make the rookie mistake of not realising that a Pokémon journey required lots of journeying, and so had packed accordingly.

She looked thoughtful for a second, rattling off a list in her head, then smiled brightly, "Yep."

We engaged in conversation for a few more minutes as the trainers around us got more and more restless until a sudden quiet descended. We looked over to the labs and saw Professor Birch standing in front, a wide grin on his face and dressed in a lab coat over the casual outfit I had seen him in earlier. He ran a hand through his hair and then settled into a professional but friendly stance,

"Hi! Sorry to keep you waiting." His voice easily reached those furthest away, "Welcome to the world of Pokémon!"

His speech, probably prepared for him by the league, hadn't changed much in the years I'd lived in Littleroot. It was a good way to get the younger kids exited, but it wasn't what I was here for. When the speech was over, people were let out into the route in a small group or alone, and some people would undoubtedly want to battle. Getting Kecleon used to battles quickly would be good, doubly as he seemed rather reluctant to even look at me before. The bond of trust that every great trainer had with their teams had to start somewhere.

As I was musing, a few of the youngest trainers, most likely to need a head start, were selected to register their names with the league, before the first small batch of trainers disappeared towards the town exit. There was only three of them to keep registration easy, and I despaired slightly at how long it would take to get through everyone here, seeing as I was one of the oldest. The professor kept calling trainers forwards but Casey and I fell back into talking, until an Aid spirited her away without a backwards glance, leaving me standing by the wall alone. I didn't have too long to wait before a different man called me forwards too.

The registration process was simple, a questionnaire that asked our sex, name and age, and then I was free. I half jogged, half ran to the beginning of the route, and exchanged a few brief words with yet another Aid about general safety as he linked my Trainer card to my bank account, but then I received the go ahead. I turned on the spot, saw my parents some way off, smiling and waving, and took my first step out of town as a trainer.

Oo===II===oO

The ground was hard as I slumped down under the shade of a tree, eyeing the ball in my hands as the sun slowly set. After nearly a day of travelling steadily north and avoiding all other trainers like the plague, I decided it was probably time to set up camp. As eager as I was to get to the training part of being a trainer, it would probably be prudent to practice a bit with Kecleon on defenceless stones to figure out his boundaries before setting him against actual trainers. The only problem was...

"Kecleon, use Scratch on that tree!"

My only response was a blank eyed stare. I blew out an exasperated puff of air. Again, I considered just returning him and moving on, but that would do no good when I got to more experienced trainers that I couldn't just avoid. As I sat there, staring at the randomly shifting colours playing across Kecloen's skin, pondering my options, I heard a snapping noise nearby, as though someone was crashing through the under brush. Kecleon didn't look alarmed, but the most response I'd gotten out of him yet had been a look of what was probably anger after the third time I had recalled him for camouflaging and trying to sneak off. Having spent the last few years in the area, I knew that there was unlikely to be any wild Pokémon large enough to be making that kind of racket, so that meant trainer.

The boy who staggered out of the bushes was evidently one of the 'Bug Catchers' that had become rather popular a year or two back. He had the large backpack with a comical net sticking out the top right down, but he staggered and nearly fell as he stepped out, only catching himself at the last second. He straightened and looked over to me and Kecleon , and his eyes brightened.

"Aha! Another trainer! Prepare to battle!" he shouted, his hands leaping to his belt and withdrawing a Pokéball. I got no time to react before a Wurmple was sitting in the leaf litter before us, blinking slowly. My trainer card beeped once and vibrated slightly, signifying a trainer battle. Great, there was no backing out of it now.

I looked across at the Bug catcher with narrowed eyes. A Wurmple shouldn't be much of a problem, but with Kecleon's continued lack of interest in anything not related to sneaking away, this may become a problem.

"Go, Kekleon." and to my surprise, Kecleon actually waddled over between the Wurmple and me, and set himself against it. I looked over at the Bug Catcher again, feeling more confident, then did a double take.

"Are you _humming_ the League theme?" I asked incredulously. The Bug Catcher blushed, and the faint battle music stopped. He gathered himself quickly, however, and opened the battle.

"Wurmple! Use String Shot!"

The Wurmple set itself squarely on the ground, and fired a think webbing of sticky string towards Kecleon, who was too slow to avoid it. The gunk attached to the floor as well as his skin, and made his movements even more laboured and slow.

"Kecleon, use Scratch on the string!" I called, but he ignored me. He seemed to sag in on himself, looking angrily at the string that bound him.

"Wurmple, get in close and finish him!"

The Wurmple nodded and scuttled forwards, straight into Kecleon's punch. I recognised the move for what it was, a well executed Faint Attack. Kecleon's skin rippled from the impact point, darkening several shades, his zigzag turning a deep maroon. I was honestly impressed by how well it had been used. Unfortunately, one good move did not a win make, and Kecleon was soon bombarded with more sticky string, rendering him all but immobile. I knew Wurmples, they were relatively common. Then next stage would be poisonous stings, individually weak but each one adding up to a critical point, where it would be a painful minute until Kecleon fainted. There was only one choice, really. I raised the ball to recall him, to forfeit the match, but stopped. I couldn't bring myself to do it. I wouldn't let my first fight end in me conceding.

"Kecleon, scratch it off!"

Kecleon may have been planning to do it anyway, or maybe I had just reminded him he could do it, but he started slashing his stubby fingers and the string, slowly severing his way free.

"Wurmple, use poison sting!"

I winced in sympathy as a short purple spike was shot into Kecleon's side, quickly delivering it's payload. Kecleon continued to claw his way free as more spines peppered his hide, but the sluggishness in his movements was more than string now. Kecleon managed to pull himself out of the mess of string behind him only to sag to his knees and fall to the floor, his tail convulsing. I recalled him, and could feel the stasis of the ball kick in. My card buzzed and I knew some of my funds would just have been deposited in the Bug Catcher's account. I pulled out my card to have a look.

I had hit bottom. Well, at least that meant I couldn't lose any more, and at least the limit was far enough above nothing that I would be able to get supplies in Oldale or Petalburg for the woods. I looked up to congratulate the bug catcher, but he was gone back into the woods. I shook my head, and extracted the only Antidote I'd picked up, along with a fat Oran Berry. I let out Kecleon again, and capitalised on his semi-conscience state to start spraying his side with the mix of painkiller and anti venom. I set the Oran Berry next to him, and stood again.

"Oldale town is about three days walk from Littleroot, Kecleon. There's only going to get more trainers as we get closer. We need to train. I need to see how good you are." I turned back to Kecleon, but he had eaten the berry when I had been talking, and was already sleeping. I sighed in exasperation, set up my tiny tent and followed his example.

The day dawned bright, but with heavy clouds that threatened rain. I woke far to early, the tent doing nothing to stop the sharp light that slipped through the trees, and packed up knowing that if it rained, my journey would become far less pleasant. I was pleasantly surprised that Kecleon hadn't simply wandered off in the night, but he didn't look like he'd woken. Or would any time soon. I recalled him, and set the shrunken ball on my belt. My thumb brushed over five other holders. I would need to pick some balls up when I got a bit more cash, I was still running on empty. I followed a dirt track back to the main route, and pulled out my Pokenav to reorient myself towards Oldale.

'2 New Messages' was flashing in the corner of the screen. I was interested, not many people had my number. The first was the expected one from my mother making sure I was still alive, which I clicked off a fast response to, but the second was from Bethany. I felt my heart speed up, momentarily, then felt rather stupid.

"Hey Luke, how'd the send off go? Won your first badge yet? You'd best be quick if you want to catch up!"

I grinned, in spite of the reminder of my one failed battle, and composed a short reply, asking about her battle with Winona, and set off with more of a bounce in my step than before. Of course, to get a badge I would first need to get Kecleon to actually listen to me, but that would happen eventually, right?

Oo===II===oO

Reviews are appreciated, especially constructive criticism (Or mindless praise, that's nice too), flames will be set alight.


	4. 3: Forgive and Forget Everything

Pokémon is not mine, I make no money from this, etcetera etcetera

Chapter three: Forgive and Forget Everything

Oo===III===oO

The heavy clouds above managed to stay foreboding and black without actually raining while I found my way back to the main path along the route. I was feeling optimistic, despite my current track record with trainer battles being zero percent. I hummed tunelessly as I lost myself in my thoughts. Something about yesterday's battle had stuck in my mind and I was trying to remember.

_He completely ignored my instructions, which I suppose is the downside of starting with a wild Pokémon. On the other hand, it seemed like he started listening when he had no other option. Either that or there was some coincidental timing going on. He evidently also has some pretty good instincts. That Faint Attack was used perfectly. Draw them in, lay them out._

Something was still nagging at my mind though.

As I walked the wind slowly picked up and a break in the black clouds sped in front of the sun for a second, brightening the path for a second, before darkness returned. My mind went blank and then exploded. When Kecleon had used the Faint Attack, his skin had rippled slightly. However, when he had been struck by the poison, there had been no purple colouration at all.

I frowned. _That doesn't make sense. Kecleon take on the type that they are hit with.. Defensive elemental camouflage. _There was something else... A half remembered...

"Trainer! I challenge you!"

I looked up, catching the eye of another young trainer. He looked pretty sure of himself, spinning an expanded Pokéball in his palm. I reached down to my belt and unclipped Kecleon's ball, letting out a half exasperated sigh.

The kid looked to be eleven, wearing a brightly coloured jacket. He was grinning cheerfully as he tossed his ball up and down. At an unspoken signal, we both acted. He threw his ball forwards, using the recoil of the release to send it back to his hand. I just braced my arm and opened it directly. After a split seconds delay, our Pokémon were staring each other down.

Poochyena were pretty common around here, so it may have been either a caught or a cheaply bought starter. It didn't really matter. They were pretty loyal to their trainers either way. Kecleon, however, were a rare sight. I saw my opponent's eyes widen a fraction before the first commands were called out.

"Kecleon, Scratch!"

"Poochyena, Tackle!"

The Dark type leapt forwards, small legs working hard to propel it forwards. Kecleon didn't move. Just as the Poochyena was about to crash into him, he raised a hand and punched forwards with another Faint Attack. Again, his skin rippled around the point of impact, darkening, but the Dark move did little to sway the Poochyena as it crashed into him. He went flying and took a few seconds to pull himself to his feet, glaring. The other trainer cheered as the Poochyena leapt away from any retaliation.

"Again! Poochyena, Tackle!"

"Kecleon-" But I was too late. He attempted one more Faint Attack, but the Poochyena was already airborne and his punch did little to change its flightpath. Kecleon was sent rolling backwards, but his attack had done enough to apparently stun the Poochyena for a second, letting the little dark green Pokémon climb back to his feet, slightly unsteady. His respite didn't last very long, however and the third Tackle sent him to his knees. With a heavy heart, I recalled him. The kid looked exalted and pulled out his trainer card. His face fell.

"Hey! Where's my money?"

"Sorry. I don't have any left."

The other trainer said something I would not have expected from an eleven year old and stormed off after recalling his Poochyena. I smiled weakly to myself. It was a scene that was sure to repeat itself on the remaining day and a half to Oldale. The battle had also done a good job making me forget what I'd been thinking about before hand.

At least this stretch of route seemed pretty empty. I'd be able to forage up an Oran berry or two for Kecleon before we met another trainer.

"Trainer! Hey, you!"

I sighed again. Or it could be one of_ those_ days.

Oo===III===oO

I slumped down next to my tent and sent out Kecleon. He was somewhat battered, with a few large bruises mottling his left side from an over enthusiastic Zigzagoon. I pulled out my only potion and started spraying the light purple liquid onto the bruises. Kecleon sat their sullenly and as soon as I was done he started moved away.

"Kecleon..." I said warningly and raised the Pokéball. He sat down and it struck my just how young he must be. He was eye level with my knee when stood and then the large head crest went probably half was up my thigh. Weren't Kecleon meant to reach three foot?

"Look. I don't want to have to keep doing this. You're my Pokémon, right? You're meant to obey me. I know what I'm doing, if you'd just obey me." Kecleon was staring resolutely at a tree. I ran my hand through my hair, exasperated. "It's probably going to rain tonight. You're welcome to use my tent, or get back in your Pokéball on your own." No response was what I was expecting, but even so it was disappointing. I climbed into my tent and got ready for bed.

_This sucks, _I thought, _no wins out of... 4 battles. No money and no way to make more until Kecleon starts listening to me. No actual idea of what I'm doing out here, short of 'travelling'. Living the dream. and it's going to be muddy as hell tomorrow. _I cast my eyes towards the unseen heavens. I'd never been particularly religious, but this deserved special mention. _You suck. _The first, large, wet drops of rain hit my tent. Kecleon was nowhere to be seen.

Everyone knew Pokémon could understand humans, to a degree. Maybe not word perfectly, but they could follow complex commands without much issue. He'd come in eventually.

I woke up in the middle of the night to the flash of a Pokéball absorbing its target and to rain pouring in through the clawed open side of my tent.

Oo===III===oO

"Trainer!". I groaned. I was tired. I was wet. One leg was muddy to the knee where I had stumbled leaping over a log. I was behind schedule and might have to spend yet another night on the route and not in a nice, warm bed in a Pokécentre. The sun was going down and I had so, _so_ wanted to be in Oldale today. I had no money and I might as well have no Pokémon. But I was on a route, so therefore I must be a trainer and you can't refuse a trainer battle. I stopped and turned around. There he was. A stupid little eleven year old with a stupid little hat and a stupid grin on his face. He already had a Pokéball in hand and it was in the air before I'd even unclipped Kecleon's ball from my belt. A Wurmple. _Fan-tastic_.

I released Kecleon. He squared off against the Wurmple and I felt something in me give a little.

"No." I whispered and recalled him.

"H-Hey!" The little kid looked indignantly at me. His Wurmple just looked confused.

"I forfeit. I give in. I throw in the towel." I started turning away, but the little trainer stopped me.

"Hey, no! No fair! I want to battle!"

"LOOK!" I shouted, turning back around, brandishing my trainer card. "I HAVE NO MONEY! YOU WON'T GET ANYTHING FOR WINNING! ALL I DID WAS SLIGHTLY SPEED THE PROCESS ALONG!" I took a breath to continue and realised I'd been striding towards the other trainer while I shouted. He was now only feet from me and looked like he was about to cry. His Wurmple was sat protectively in front of him, glaring up at me. That, more than anything, cooled my anger. He must've caught it himself, it was young. It was also totally unharmed. I must've been the first other trainer they'd seen. That in itself was an achievement. Almost three days in and no battles. I felt guilty.

"Fine. I... We can battle. I'll just go over there and... yeah. OK." I pulled out Kecleon's ball again and released him onto the earth.

"Kecleon... Who an I kidding, you won't listen to anything I say anyway." I barely even bothered to watch as Kecleon was slowly trussed up and poisoned. This trainer was more careful than the first one, the other Wurmple user and so whenever Kecleon started cutting free, another layer would be added before the poisonous stings would continue. When I felt enough was enough, I recalled him and turned away without a word into the woods.

As I walked away from the path, the anger slowly returned. By the time I found a small spot by a pond, ideal for berries, it had stewed into a destructive fury.

_I really hate_ I thought viciously as I tore my was through a bush _foraging for berries for that ungrateful, _I tore up a clod of grass, _sadistic_, I kicked a tree, _annoying_ and I threw a rock into a bush. There was a sharp yelp of pain and a Poochyena crawled out, glaring at me. It's hackles were up and it's teeth bared. It started growling, a deep, reverberating noise that sounded like a dozen throats all rumbling softly. Slowly, the rest of its pack eased out of the under brush, all glaring at me. All growling. The dozen rumbling noises were revealed to come from a dozen adult Poochyena.

One of the basic things with predators, is you do not run. You do not trigger the instincts that would label you as prey. You stare them down, work on the dormant yet inbuilt need to obey humanity that all Pokémon possessed. The instincts that allowed Pokémon training to happen as easily and accidental death free as it does. A top tier ranger can stare down a rampage from some truly fearsome Pokémon without ever needing to call on their team. But that skill took years, sometimes decades of training. That's what a team was for for us mere trainers. Protection. I didn't think I could count on that from my Kecleon. Even so, an adult human should be able to fend off a few Poochyena long enough for help to arrive.

There were a lot of Poochyena. My legs were cold. Unresponsive. For all my dreams about training, for all the books I'd read and videos I had seen, I'd never actually been in this situation. I could maybe fight them off long enough to get to the path and hope a passing trainer or two would hear and come to help. Or I could even just shout for help. Or pull out my Pokénav and call a local ranger. Or-

A new, deeper growl joined the rest and a bush rustled as a large black and grey creature emerged. A Mightyena. That got my legs moving again. I ran. I didn't think of going back to the path, I just sprinted through the woods. Branches ripped at my pack and hair. Mud splashed into my boots and I nearly stumbled as my foot caught on a root. Precious moments were spent untangling my trousers from a patch of bramble My boots felt heavy. They weren't running shoes, I couldn't keep this pace up for long and far too soon I slipped and landed full on in the mud. There was a crack and my belt felt lighter suddenly. I pulled myself to my knees, frantic and reached for Kecleon's ball. The holder was empty.

"No... no no nonono" I muttered franticly as I scrambled through the mud. I could _hear_ my pursuers closing leisurely, but I couldn't leave the little Pokéball behind. No matter how angry I was, I couldn't leave Kecleon to by trapped in there until some unlucky trainer stumbled over it in who knew how long. I'd heard the stories of Pokémon who'd been driven mad by isolation in forgotten safes and woodland paths. _Those _rampages could only be ended one way. I would not let that happen here.

THERE! My fingers closed on the smooth ball and I stood victorious. The Mightyena's attack caught me in the stomach and sent me flying to hit a tree and slide to the ground. Kecleon's Pokéball opened and the little, poisoned, battered and bruised green Pokémon stood in front of me. My heart sank. He was going to use his little camouflage trick and run away while I couldn't stop him. I could see his skin shifting and rippling. But then something fantastic happened. Kecleon took a step towards me and planted his feet.

The Mightyena stared at Kecleon for a few seconds and Kecleon stared back, unblinking. The Mightyena's growling ratcheted up a notch and it took a long step forwards. Kecleon raised his stubby arms into some sort of ready stance and his skin shifted to a reddish brown. The Mightyena stopped mid pace. It glanced between Kecleon and me and then turned tail and stalked into the woods, taking it's pack of Poochyena with it. Kecleon swayed for a few more seconds, then fell face forward into the leaf litter.

I pulled myself a little higher on the tree, into a mostly upright sitting position. My stomach cramped unpleasantly in protest and I gasped for breath as I reached for the Safari Ball sat a foot away. My fingers closed on the uniform surface, still spattered with mud and I recalled Kecleon. My stomach felt like putty, my chest was on fire and my limbs were shaking, but I was the happiest I had been in a very long time. Kecleon had stood up for me. He had been that close to fainting and had stared down an evolved Pokémon for me. His decision may have been helped by an apparent inability to take more than a few steps, but he had still done it.

I rested against the tree for a few more minutes before I slipped Kecleon's ball into my pocket and forced myself to my feet. I made it a few steps before my abused stomach sent its protests rushing up my throat and onto the woodland floor. Something in my mouth hurt and tasted of copper. I made it a few more steps while wiping my mouth on my filthy sleeve and looked up. Through a gap in the trees I could see houses.

Oldale. _Thank Arceus. Maybe you don't suck. _I staggered towards the town border, covered in mud and smelling quite unpleasant. Every few steps I felt like a had to stop, but I forced myself onwards. I probably wasn't too badly hurt, but walking was painful. Breathing hurt. Despite this, despite having taken a Pokémon attack, I was going to get to Oldale before sunset. It mattered. Maybe not to the Pokécentre I would be sleeping in tonight. Maybe not to the people of Oldale. Maybe not even to Kecleon, or my parents, or the gyms or the League. But it mattered to me. It was a challenge I had set myself. I may have the worst trainer record possible. I may have a Pokémon who was actively antagonistic on the occasions he wasn't purely apathetic to my presence. But I would not be slower than I had to be. I would not fail in this. This smallest task I had set myself.

One foot in front of the other. Maybe two hundred meters to the town and I broke out of the tree line. The sun was closing in on the horizon. One foot in front of the other. Step after step. My knee hurt from my earlier fall over the log. My ankle where it had caught the tree root. One hundred and fifty meters to go. _Just keep going_. I could do this. A cool breeze swept through the town, carrying the faintest smell of the sea. It was a scent familiar enough to me, I'd lived in Littleroot long enough. But this was different. This was Petalburg sea breeze, bringing with it the distinct scent of ash from route 102. One hundred meters and I sped up. The sun seemed to too. I sped up again, almost jogging. My knee jarred uncomfortably and my back ached from hitting the tree. I broke into a run, then a sprint as I passed fifty meters. The sun was hurtling towards the mountains like a comet. Twenty meters to go and my legs burned. Fifteen and my lungs caught fire. Ten and a man stepped out of a house, stared at me for a split second and then stepped back hurriedly as it became clear I wasn't slowing. Five meters and I nearly slipped. I threw my arms out, regained my balance and skidded to a stop as my feet hit cobblestones. The sun slammed into the distant mountains and slid behind them.

The man was wearing a blue apron and a fixed looking smile, staring at me as I stood gasping on the cobbled path, dripping mud. I didn't _think_ there was anything special about a mud coated teen in the days after a Send Off, but my madcap dash still must've been quite a sight.

"Why..?" Then the man seemed to catch himself and started on his prepared speech, "Welcome to Oldale, new trainer! If you would like to follow me, I can show you around the town, the Pokémart and then to the Pokécentre to rest..." he paused while I leant on my knees, chest heaving and spat a gob of blood onto the grass "... or we can take you straight to the Centre..?"

Oo===III===oO

I woke up in a soft bed, to the feeling of my trainer ID vibrating softly. I pulled it out just as it stopped and glanced at it. A stipend from the league had been transferred, as I had made it from one town to another. Three days travel, from Littleroot to Oldale. I did a bit of mental maths, but it seemed that the pay was what I'd expected it to be. Enough for supplies for route 102 and the woods when added to the cash I had under the rock bottom limit imposed on loss transfers, or a new tent. Not both. Ah well. I was getting pretty good at foraging after three days of constant berry runs, but I didn't trust myself to scrounge up three meals a day. Especially not on route 102.

I pushed myself upright and pulled my Pokénav out of my bag, to check the time. My stomach still felt a little stiff, but it was workable. The screen of the Pokénav was blinking at me. One message from my parents, asking to be updated as soon as I made it to Oldale, which I tapped off quickly and then a message from an unknown number.

_Hey Luke, This is Casey, messaging from Oldale. If you get in in the next few days, want to meet up for a battle?_

I picked up the Safari Ball from the bedside table where I half remembered placing it the night before and rolled it between my fingers, staring at it. It was no longer unmarked. There was a single, long scratch just above the release catch. Whatever hit it must have been how Kecleon was released during yesterday's chase. I hadn't forgotten the anger, but I had realised something, scrabbling in the mud and leaning against that tree. I was going to make it work. I didn't know how, but I would. There wasn't any other choice, really.

I wrote back.

_12:30, at the centre of the town?_

I looked at the time again and changed my mind.

_1:30_

I stretched and slipped out of bed, putting the ball back on the bedside table, before walking out my room and heading to the small communal bathroom and shower that the Pokécentre provided. Despite Oldale being a tiny town, it had a well stocked and supplied Pokécentre due to it's prominence near the start of almost all Pokémon journeys. I relaxed in the hot water for a while, letting the left over stiffness bleed away. I also spent some time poking at the livid purple bruise that stretched from just below my navel to my sternum. It was actually quite impressive, especially when paired with the green and yellow mottling on my back. When you added the number of small cuts and scratches on my arms and face from the branches that had whipped me as I ran, I looked like I had been in a war. Despite that, I wasn't in much pain so long as I didn't directly aggravate it. If anything, it felt quite cool. Not something I wanted to repeat, of course, but it wasn't many people who could claim to have taken a Pokémon attack. Even one as weak as a tackle.

Feeling clean, warm and relaxed, I dressed in fresh, dry trousers and a shirt, grabbed my pack and Kecleon's ball and headed down to the main room.

The room was mostly empty, a pleasant surprise. There was no queue to reach the Nurse Joy currently staffing the counter.

"Ah, trainer Stoneway. You're up and about already, excellent!" her voice, like that of all Nurse Joys, was cheerful and bubbly as she regarded me with a critical air. "You took quite the hit, if you don't mind me saying so. It looked like a Pokémon attack- my guess would be Assurance from the residual energy picked up." She looked askance at me. "At least, it would be if you weren't already up and about. Was it anything that needs reporting?"

I nodded, thinking back to the Mightyena. There was a reason you didn't find any on route 101 normally. They were highly aggressive and territorial. Not something parents would like hanging around their eleven year old babies who thought they could take on the world with a Wurmple. I did wonder, for just a second, about her guess of Assurance. Residual Dark energy would be bad. I had assumed it was just a tackle and I _was_ already feeling better... But it wasn't unheard of for people to survive stronger moves than a tackle, especially physical moves. It was just rare. Not even that rare, didn't Brawly take a Mach Punch or something a few years back?

"Well then, could I ask you to fill out one of these forms? It will only take a minute." I started as the nurse's voice brought me back to reality. Either way, I should avoid attracting the personal attention of any more Pokémon for a while.

I nodded again and took the proffered paper to a table. It was quite a simple form really. Reason for request: High level Pokémon, check. Location of request: Route 101, near Oldale town. Suggested action: Relocation to a high level route, check. Name and trainer ID and then I handed it back to Nurse Joy. She smiled brightly.

"Thank you. I returned your Kecleon to full health yesterday, so I hope you have a nice day!"

"Thank you." I said and then followed the signs downstairs to the cafeteria. I got a bottle of water, another for later and a bowel of miscellaneous vegetables and berries. I took out Kecleon's ball, then thought better of it. As much as I was committed to making it work with him, I didn't trust him not to freak out if I let him out indoors again. Or to obey my instruction to stay nearby. I just rolled it between my fingers. I got a reply from Casey as I ate, agreeing to meet me at the centre of town at 1:30.

Meal finished, I went to look for a store. I wanted to head on soon, if nothing else so the next league stipend would buy me a tent. The sky was clear after the rain, but that wouldn't last. Not as we went into autumn. I found a shop that seemed likely without too much difficulty. Oldale was a very small town and most of the shops at least served a double function for trainers. The bell rang as I pushed open the door and the lady behind the counter looked up, startled, before smiling and pushing her magazine underneath the table.

"Can I help you with anything? We sell all sorts of trainer supplies here!"

"Just point me towards your travelling foods, please."

The shop was small, so I somewhat doubted the ladies claim of 'all sorts' but they did have a few well stocked shelves filled with packs of nuts, jars of dried fruit, ready meals in boxes and breakfast bars. I took out my Trainer Card once more and looked at my budget, before wincing. Everyone always talked about how amazing trainer journeys were. The deep and meaningful bonds you formed with other people and Pokémon. The jobs you could get interviews for simply by having a few badges to your name. No one mentioned the sheer quantity of muesli you had to eat.

I paid for my purchases and watched with depressed fascination as my balance sped towards nothing, stopping at four hundred and eleven spendable Zenny, with another thousand beneath the hard limit, coded to only be spendable on 'indispensable' supplies. I'd be able to afford a potion and an antidote at the store, just, but I would be living on nothing but these rations and anything I could scavenge. If I was delayed mid-route for some reason, I would be in trouble. At the same time, I couldn't justify spending more on food just yet. Even one win under my belt would go a long way to alleviating my worries, but that didn't seem to be on the horizon.

Heading outside, I started walking towards where I thought the Pokémart was. The path curved around to the north east, but still went past the entrance to route 102. I shivered and sped up. Everyone had heard about the Route 102 Fire. I wasn't looking forward to the days ahead on that route.

The Pokémart came into view at the same time as the path to 102 disappeared. The distinctive blue roof was always easy to spot. Probably why they'd done it. There was a familiar looking smiling man stood outside. I looked at him suspiciously for a second, then remembered him as the man who had met me at the gate yesterday. He seemed to remember too as he glanced me up and down.

"Hello trainer! and welcome to the Pokémart!"

I resolved to just walk past him, but his next words stopped me cold. "As part of our latest promotion, all new trainers who make it to Oldale can receive one free Potion!" My heart skipped a beat. Potions were three hundred Zenny and getting one for free would be fantastic. I could use the extra cash to... to... to buy a second Potion! Or a Paralyse Heal, some more antidotes, anything. That went a long way to lifting my spirits again. He took me inside the store, which was small but stuffed full of shelves carrying the latest Pokémon produce and to the counter.

"Please scan your Trainer Card on one of these," the shop assistant said, gesturing to a number of rectangular silver machines on the counter top, "And then select the trainer items you would like to purchase from there. Other items can be selected by hand from the shelves and your free potion will automatically be added to your cart."

I scanned my card and a small section of the counter lit up. The selection was disappointingly small, but that was how it went until you had a few badges. Hyper Potions could be outright dangerous if used incorrectly, after all. The first thing I picked was an antidote and then started deliberating. Another potion could be useful, but I would expect people to be less keen to battle in route 102 than they were in route 101. I could buy a few more antidotes, which would set me up for a while, but poison wasn't too likely until Petalburg woods anyway. Paralysis could cripple your chances in battle until you could get to a centre if you didn't have a heal... but my chances weren't great anyway until I started winning and that once that started happening, I'd have the spare cash to spend on heals... My eye was drawn to the last thing on the list, a Pokéball. Two hundred Zenny.

There wasn't anything I _really_ wanted around here, but as my encounter with the Mightyena had shown, sometimes Pokémon wandered from route to route, or evolved. and as a last resort, a Pokéball could buy you a few seconds to run from a much too powerful Pokémon. I added one to my cart and another antidote. That was me out of cash, but I thought I'd made the right choice. I pressed the checkout button and my card vibrated as it was drained. The cashier pulled my purchases out from under the counter and I put the potion and two antidotes in my bag. The shrunk Pokéball went in a secure pouch on my belt, for easy extraction.

I thanked the cashier and the shop assistant and looked at the clock behind the counter. 1:26... Plenty of time to reach the town centre, right? I set off at a jog, feeling the comforting weight in my pack settle. It wasn't long before the town centre came into view, a small grassy hillock with an information board on it in a small park, a few residents scattered about on benches and one familiar trainer bouncing up and down excitedly while waving her hands above her head. She was stood in the small gravelled section reserved for low powered Pokémon battles.

"Hey! Hey Luke!"

I wandered over to her, grinning in spite of myself and the slightly sour mood that followed me constantly for the last two days from my lack of money and streak of loses. "Hey Casey. Happy to see me?"

"Uh-huh. You're late. Don't you know not to keep a lady waiting?" She mock glared at me. I pulled out my Pokénav and checked the time. 1:30.

"I'm right on time, Casey."

"And I," She pointed to herself with her thumb, "Have been here ten minutes. Hence, you're late." She smiled at her iron clad logic. I opened my mouth to refute her, but she jabbed me in the stomach and exclaimed "Ready to get your ass handed to you?"

My grin faltered slightly and I winced as my bruise flared and her bubbly attitude vanished in an instant.

"Oh Arceus, did I say something?"

"Don't worry about it," I assured her and when she looked like she was going to protest, I added "I'll tell you about it after the battle, OK?"

She nodded and a look of determination settled over her features. I laughed to myself at just how quickly her one track mind could change track.. We walked to opposite edges of the arena and drew our Pokéballs.

"Go, Kecleon," I said as I braced my arm and fired him onto the stony surface. I was echoed by Casey's voice, "Let's get 'em, Angel!". I watched, wary of what she'd sent out. The red beam of light flickered for a second before winking out, revealing the small, brown and grey form of a Seedot.

"Angel?" I said, looking at Casey.

"It's a cute name, OK? Anyway, let's get this on the road! Angel, Harden!"

"Kecleon, use Scratch!"

Angel settled her feet and tensed. Kecleon turned around and glared at me.

"Angel, keep Hardening!"

"Oh come on man! Please?"

"Keep going Angel, he's going to do something!"

"Why not? Is this because I made that kid cry?"

"They're going to do something... any second now..."

"For Arceus' sake! You can't enjoy getting beaten up all the time any more than I enjoy being poor! We can fix both those problems!"

"... Luke?"

"Kecleon, Scratch! Lick! Faint Attack!"

Kecleon sat down and started scratching behind one of his head crests, while glaring sullenly at me.

"Luke, are you going to attack at any point?"

I sighed. It was something Kecleon seemed to make me do a lot. "Doesn't look like it. Sorry Casey, you might as well end this now, he's feeling even less cooperative than normal."

Casey wandered around the edge of the arena to stand next to me and then after a few seconds of Kecleon sitting there and Angel shuffling on the spot, she muttered to me "Angel only knows Harden and Bide. If you don't attack, she can't do anything." after a few more seconds, she continued at a normal volume. "Is he often like this? How do you win any battles?"

I looked at her, waiting for her to figure it out. Her eyes widened. "Really? Not once? How many battles have you had?"

"Five. Six now. Seven if you count the pack of Poochyena he stood up to while severely poisoned yesterday evening, but I don't think he was capable of walking away just then. Or if that should really be called a battle." I kept looking at the resolutely irritating Pokémon, who had lain down and was now pretending to be asleep.

Casey frowned at me, "Why would you send him out if he was that badly poisoned?"

"It wasn't my choice. I dropped his ball after I got thrown by that tackle-"

Casey burst out laughing and between giggles got out "How hard could a Poochyena hit? Did Ickle Lukey get a bruise on his shin?"

I glared at her and spoke in a cold voice. "It was a Mightyena. Nurse joy said there was residual Dark type energy too and she'd have thought it was an Assurance if I wasn't already up."

Casey had stopped laughing four words into my explanation and looked down right scared as I finished. "Oh, shit. Sorry. Is that what the flinch was?" at my nod, she winced, before lowering her voice. "Can- Can I see?"

I raised my eyebrow at her, but pulled up my shirt a little, so that an inch and a half of purple skin was revealed. She let out a small gasp and then looked up at my face, seemingly seeing the numerous small scabs and scratches for the first time. "Well.. Damn..."

"Yeah. If Kecleon hadn't managed to stand for as long as he did, well. I'd probably still be in the Centre."

With a visible effort, Casey looked away from my bruising and I dropped my shirt. She seemed to struggle to change the subject, before looking back to the Pokémon battle we had been oblivious to. Angel had wandered over to Kecleon and was attempting to kick him with her tiny feet. Kecleon was ignoring her, except that for each kick he was swapping between pastel pink and baby blue, seemingly just to pass the time.

"Well. After all that, the least I can do is buy you lunch!" Casey smiled and recalled Angel. I felt a vibrating in my pocket and pulled out my card in time to see _Other trainer has forfeited the match! Funds transferring!_ scroll across the tiny screen. I burst out laughing as I read it and Casey's face split into a remorseful smile as she realised what had happened. "Whoops... Correction. YOU can buy ME lunch. Come on, I want Kanto!"

Oo===III===oO

We caught up as we ate. I only had a light salad, both to conserve funds and because I had eaten a late breakfast at the Pokécentre, but Casey had a full meal, so we were catching up for a long time. It was a good thing that Casey had somehow managed to pack what seemed like several full adventures into her three days travelling. I was left worrying that if we met up after more than a week apart, wed need to go to a café that wouldn't object to my purchasing of both lunch and dinner without leaving the table. But still, it was absurdly nice to see a face that wasn't either angry or disappointed in my lack of money. Especially when she laughed at my bad jokes.

We ended up talking about far more than just the last three days, coving topics from my capture of Kecleon and my first release of him and how long I'd wanted to be a trainer. In return, she told me about her home in Slateport and her older brother's disastrous attempt at the gym circuit that had led to him swearing off of Pokémon for two years before he finally got back into the game. In the end after I had paid the bill, with cash to spare, we walked back to the park and let out Kecleon and Angel to do their own thing in the Pokémon area.

"Do you think I should give Kecleon a nickname?" I asked, while watching him climb a tree and fall asleep on a branch a good ten feet from the ground.

"I was wondering why you hadn't," Casey paused, chewing on her lip, "but having seen him... 'battle', I might leave it for a while. Until he starts listening to you a bit more. If you push it, he's probably just more likely to rebel. He might see it as some dominance display or something. Pokémon can be weird like that."

I nodded along. It made sense, of a sort. I blew a lock of hair out of my eyes. "Problem is, I can't see that happening soon. You saw him today Casey. He doesn't try. It's like he actually hates me or somethi-" I yelped in pain as Casey slapped my back. "Ow! Tree, remember?"

"Don't care." She glared at me. "You know he can understand you and yet here you are, not even ten feet from him and bitching about him and how he "doesn't try"," she made the inverted commas with her fingers, "and that's not going to motivate him to try harder, is it? From how you described him standing up to the Mightyena, He put himself between you and a large predator, while barely able to stand and THEN managed to bluff the damn thing into fleeing!" At my confused look, she explained.

"You said he changed colour, to a kind of red brown? Well, some Kecleon change type based on the attack they use rather than ones they get hit by. He was bluffing being one of those and pretending to charge some fighting type move. The Mightyena didn't want to risk it, so ran off. He thought of all of that and implemented the plan flawlessly... All while mere seconds from fainting! If I were you, I'd stop bitching about him and start talking to him. After all, all that's happened so far in your relationship is," and she started ticking of points on her fingers:

"One: You basically kidnapped him from his home, which I'm sure he wasn't happy with. Two: you then released him in your house and tried to tackle him, before enlisting the help of your parents to catch him again, not going to have helped. Three: you have then done nothing but order him around and make him battle, getting beaten up and repeatedly poisoned in the process. Fourth: you then got taken down by a Pokémon because you didn't trust him to help you and then when he did get let out, he scared away the Pokémon that had removed you form the fight in one hit, with a little bluff and some posturing. Fifth and finally..." She slapped my back again. "You keep bitching about him!"

I flushed. "You make it sound pretty bad, put like that. But don't most trainers keep their teams in balls all the time?"

Casey look askance at me. "You know, for as long as you've been waiting, you haven't done much research into the _being a trainer_ part, have you? I would say it's the norm to let your team out when travelling any terrain they can travel on their own. Angel travels in the ball because she can't keep up yet, but I let her out each night when we stop to camp and sometimes just to show her a nice looking tree or flower patch or something. If your whole relationship with them is battle after battle... you wont end up with a very well adjusted Pokémon. Especially not a wild one, used to doing their own thing and usually avoiding battles as much as possible."

She took a breath from her lecture and I unburied my face from my hands. "OK! OK, you've made your point and it's a good one. I feel like I should apologise or something. But he wont stay near me long enough for me to."

Casey looked thoughtful for a second, then started digging through her pack, muttering. "I know it's in here somewhere. and _this_ is why you never leave your pack at the centre... never know when you'll need it.. Aha!" She straightened up, victoriously brandishing something that looked like a thick blue stick, with a stylised, flatted Pokéball on one end. She popped the Pokéball open, revealing a small, blue cube. A Pokéblock.

"Here,", she proffered the Pokéblock to me, "Give him this. It might make him more willing to stick around."

"Now?" I looked at Kecleon, still apparently asleep in his tree.

"Why not? He can't run away too easily, he's comfortable, he's probably just heard you realise you've been an ass and if you can climb up there, you'll prove you aren't _totally_ useless. Go for it, I'll wait." She kicked back and made a shoeing gesture in Kecleon's direction with the Pokéblock case. I took the block and she put her hands behind her head and tilted her cap down to cover her eyes.

My palms felt slightly clammy, but I stood and started walking. I reached the bottom of the tree and looked up. The tree was not the kind with many, easy to climb branches. It was shaped more like a mushroom, with a bare trunk that suddenly exploded into branches about eight feet up. I eyed it carefully, then placed the Pokéblock in my pocket... If I stretched...

I took a small run up and jumped. My hands closed around a sturdy looking branch and I swung my legs up onto the trunk. I walked my feet up until I was nearly horizontal, then wrapped one leg over another branch. I went to pull myself up, but my stomach suddenly protested and instead I sagged between the branches, loose leg swinging down. I heard a snort of laughter and twisted my head to glare at Casey, who was watching from underneath her cap. After a seconds pause, I heaved my other leg up into the branches and carefully edged my way around the trunk to the branch Kecleon was 'sleeping' on. He was looking at me with what I assumed was surprise.

"Hey.". Probably not the best starter to use, but the blue candy went a long way to smoothing that over. Kecleon snatched it from my hands as soon as I offered it and he even went so far as to shuffle a few inches along the branch, giving me space to sit with my back against the trunk, legs dangling over each side of his branch. I spent a moment composing my thoughts as Kecleon chewed, apparently savouring the sticky berry blend.

"So, I have just had a lot of things explained to me, in regards to you. So the first thing to say, I guess, is sorry." I risked a glance towards Kecleon. He'd stopped eating and seemed to be listening, which I took as a good sign. "Sorry for taking you out of the Safari Zone with no warning, to start with. Now I think about it, most Safari Pokémon probably somewhat expect an unexpected Pokéball, but you'd just snuck in for an easy meal, hadn't you? Then the next thing you know, you're in a house with a strange person you'd never met before head butting you. _That's _gotta suck. Then your next few hours life outside the ball is just being hurled in battle after battle by the same guy, where you get poisoned, cocooned, are about to faint, then you're being healed just enough so that we can repeat it a few hours later. Then this guy, this total arse, starts complaining that he knows how you should fight better than you do. Then he stops letting you fight at all, preferring to just give up, which kind of makes the whole 'stole you from your home' seem even worse, now I think about it. and then still has to rely on you to save his sorry hide from a Pokémon he's managed to piss off. So yeah, for all that, I'm sorry. I should have thought all that through long before now. We're three days in now and this is the first time I've let you out to relax. and the first time I've really spoken to you in any way other than orders or complaints.

"So I thought I'd fill you in on my end of the story, seeing as you can't really fill you in on yours. It won't excuse me, but maybe it will make me a bit more understandable. I'm Luke. Luke Stoneway. I'm seventeen, as of four days ago. It's been my dream of being a trainer for six years and currently those six years of dreams are resting on you. In the end I want six Pokémon and you're going to be one of them. I don't really know what I want to do right now, short of travel. See everything in Hoenn. Maybe do contests. Maybe do the gym circuit. Hell, maybe I'll become a ranger, or a League sponsored ACE. But all of that starts with a team. and my team starts with you.

"I don't know if you can hear what's happening while you're inside your Pokéball, but while my dad was commiserating that the Safari ticket that he and my mum have been extending every three months for the last six years had been used to catch a native Kecleon, I said that I didn't care. That you were perfect. I stand by that. I think we could be great, one day. No matter what we go for, I think we could be the best. But we need to work for that. We need to work together. You're the only thing I have to work with, so I guess I put you on a bit of a pedestal. Expected you to be a perfectly trained, strong and experienced fighter from the get go. Now... I can't excuse the way I've treated you. But I can promise to improve. So what do you say? Want to wipe the slate and start this thing again from the top?"

Kecleon slowly turned to face me and very deliberately put the rest of the Pokéblock in his mouth. Chewing deliberately, he stood up on the branch and took a step towards me. He swallowed, opened his mouth wide and his tongue lashed out to strike me in the chest. A combination of shock and the ghostly energy from the weak attack paralysed me for a second, which was all it took to lose my balance and come crashing down out of the tree. The fall wasn't too bad, but when I pulled myself to my feet there was a large lump already forming on my head and my back felt raw.

Kecleon landed in front of me lightly, skin a greyish purple hue. I rubbed my head. "I guess I deserved that..?"

Kecleon nodded once and turned around. Casey was already half way towards us, having started moving when I'd fallen from the tree. Kecleon looked back at me, then something in his eyes softened and he set his feet, raising his hands into a parody of a martial arts stance. Casey slowed when she got to within a few feet.

"You ready for that battle now, Kecleon?" She asked and he nodded again. My heart leapt. _This was it._

Angel teetered over on her tiny legs and set herself against Kecleon.

"OK! Angel! Harden!"

"Kecleon? Scratch?"

Angel set herself steady and started tensing and Kecleon took a few steps toward her and brought his claws down on top of her head softly.

"Come on Luke! He's just doing as you ask after all! Angel, Bide!"

"Scratch!"

This time, Kecleon stepped back, before stepping in close, using the added extra momentum to rake his claws across Angel's head. Angel started glowing red.

"Scratch again!". The feeling of actually getting a response from Kecleon was fantastic. The red glow surrounding Angel was now slightly worrying. I tired to remember what Bide did... Something about storing energy..? My mind froze up. I had to end this _right now_.

"Kecleon! Use... uh... quick attack?" Kecleon turned and looked at me with an expression that somehow managed to convey all of _you know absolutely nothing, do you?_ Before Angel detonated. The stored energy of Bide pumped out of her and into Kecleon's exposed back, sending him flying forwards. He landed with a thump before me and I stared down at him. How he managed to look resentful, exasperated and put upon with a face that was fifty percent nose I don't know, but I interpreted it easily enough.

"I think you win this one, Casey. What we need is a bit of practice on nice, defenceless stones. and a stop off in the Pokécentre."

I recalled Kecleon, to end the match and winced as I felt my card buzz. _There goes all my 'savings'... I should have got a bigger lunch._

Then, at a look from Casey, I released Kecleon again.

"We're going to the Pokécentre, to get you two looked at. Do you want to ride," I asked, waving the Pokéball, "Or walk?"

He chose walk.

On the way, Casey struck up conversation once again and after a minute of mindless chatter, she got to the meat of the conversation.

"Hey Luke, it strikes me that you could do with someone to keep you safe from big bad eleven year old rookie trainers while you get to learn about Kecleon. You want to come with us when we hit route 102? It'd be nice for some company on the road."

I looked at Kecleon, currently ambling around the flowerbeds at the side of the road. I caught another faint breeze, but there was no sea air this time. Just the stink of ash. I nodded. "Sounds like fun."

I know it's been a long time since this updated. But I was thinking to myself... "Hey me. Do you (Me) know what I (you) love doing? Writing. Why the HELL have you not done any in over a year?" So I looked at the stuff I had released... and saw, there, something I had long since forgotten about. Something magical... "Follows : 1". So this chapter is dedicated to you, whoever you are. I cannot for the life of me figure out how to check who you are, but I hope you enjoy this chapter and thanks for giving me the kick I so, so desperately wanted.. Hopefully my writing will have magically improved in my year of not, but if not, as always:

Reviews are loved, Constructive Criticism is useful

Also, although I hope to make it a shorter gap than the last one, I have no chapters saved up (Although I know exactly what is coming for the next long while), so there may be a longish wait...


	5. A: Acorns

Pokémon: Not mine. No cash flow.

As a warning: I like to keep things happy and fun in my writing, but this is not a just happy and fun story. This is not a happy and fun chapter.

Interlude 1: Acorns

Oo===A1A===oO

Three trainers lounged in an island of solitude in the packed main room of Petalburg Pokécenter. While the room was stuffed with both Gym hopefuls and locals after a long day, there was a wide empty space around the table occupied by these two men and one woman all dressed in the easily recognisable red and yellow uniforms of an Hoenn ACE Trainer. They were talking quietly, but occasionally one or another of them would laugh, and everyone's attention would snap towards them, and then drift away again.

The doors of the Pokécenter flew open, admitting a blast of chill evening air and a distraught young girl. She pushed her way past the crowd and to the front desk. There were several angry mutters from the people queuing for a room, or to have their Pokémon healed, but the young girl ignored them, holding a whispered conversation with the Joy on duty. The nurse checked something on her computer and then shook her head at the girl, who wailed. She looked around the room desperately, and her eyes alighted on the trio of ACEs. She rushed towards them, her shoes clattering on the floor. Everyone drew back further as she broke the respectful circle that had been left around the ACEs, leaving her marooned in the space. The audience watched avidly. If you saw an ACE, they were almost definitely on League business. While most would blanch at the idea of interrupting them, no one was adverse to the possibility of discovering more about what had brought three of the best to Petalburg.

The girl was almost in tears as she stopped next to them, but before she could open her mouth, one of the ACEs jumped in. "Push off kid. League business."

"Joel," admonished the other, taller, male ACE. "The least we can do is hear her out."

Joel snorted, and drained his can of drink, before waving the girl forwards. Her hands clenched and unclenched on her dress before she started.

"My- my name is Maggie. I was... I am going to be a Pokémon trainer. But my Pokémon ran off. The 'mart wouldn't sell me any balls because I don't have a licence and I'm not old enough without one, and mum and dad wouldn't get me any, so when I took my Whismur out the house to practice, he wandered into route 102, and I can't go in there with no Pokémon!"

The female ACE frowned. "This sounds like a job for a Ranger, not an ACE." she said, non-committally.

"But, but Nurse Joy said they're all busy in Petalburg Woods!"

A brief look of understanding flashed between the ACEs, but all they said was "Ah."

Maggie looked at the floor, and started to sniff. The taller male ACE looked alarmed, and leant forwards. "OK! OK, we're going to Oldale town tonight anyway. We can keep an eye out, right guys? Just... Don't cry."

Maggie kept sniffing, but nodded. The other two ACEs glared at him. Joel abruptly stood. "We should be leaving. Come on Julia. Mark." The other ACEs nodded, and drained their drinks. They stood and walked out of the door. Mark hung back for a second, looking at Maggie who was still stood where they'd left her.

"Why is it I'm only starting to feel guilty about this _now_?" he muttered to the other two.

"Because you're too soft hearted," snorted Joel. "You know we don't have the time to be looking for some stupid Whismur. We're on a job here."

"I know..." Mark looked at the sky, starting to grow dark as the sun slid down. "But at least now she'll have hope for a few hours, right? That's better than nothing. It _is_ our fault that the Rangers were told to get out of the area for a few days, after all."

The other two rolled their eyes, and unclipped their Pokéballs. Two flashes later, and and Umbreon and a Weavile were stood on the path. Mark started from his thoughts, and fumbled for a second before releasing a Pangoro. The Dark types looked at each other and their trainers. Joel pulled out what looked to be a small, white bottle of perfume, and sprayed the air. The Pokémon took a curious sniff, and then the three ACEs let out the command to start the evening.

"Seek."

The predatory Dark types immediately started walking into route 102, sniffing the air, and the ACEs followed. The three Pokémon split up after a few minutes walking, each headed deeper into the woods away from the path.

The Pangoro led Mark towards what sounded like a stream, and Mark felt something brush against his mind. He hurried to step closer to the Dark type, and the intruding presence vanished. He readied an Ultra Ball carefully in each hand. The pair finally rounded a tree to see a small clearing. There were two Ralts looking up at him in confusion before they were swallowed by the red blasts of light. The Ultra Balls barely rocked as it trapped the two. His Pangoro snorted and turned to leave when there was an angry sound, like a woman in pain. Mark turned slowly to see a Gardevoir levitate into the clearing, eyes glowing with power.

Mark took a step forwards, and stared into those incandescent orbs. He refused to give in, and the Gardevoir couldn't back down. Pangoro walked around, towards the Gardevoir and for the brief moment where neither Mark nor the dual Psychic type has in the Dark types aura, Mark was forced to his knees from the pressure on his mind. The Gardevoir's eyes widened as it saw their plans, and then Pangoro reached it. There was a muted crack as the Dark types massive fist closed around the Gardevoir's slender neck, and the light shining from it's eyes faded. The vast black and white Pokémon dropped the other Pokémon to the ground, and turned back to Mark, pulling him to his feet and snuffling in his hair.

"Yeah, I'm fine, I think. It wasn't trying to attack me, just determining what I was doing." He smiled, tightly. "Let's find another nest, shall we? Seek."

It was nearing dawn as the three ACEs reconvened in the shadows of the route. They looked at the sack of Ralts-filled Ultra Balls.

"Crikey," Joel was the first to speak up "Must be nearly 200 Ralts in there. Think anyone would notice if I just..."

"No, Joel." Came Julia's stern voice. "These are League property now."

"But the value of a Ralts is going to soar after this!"

"I know. That's why they're League property. Personally, I would have preferred to hit a few more nests, but time's running low." Julia released another Pokémon as Mark tied the sack shut. "Altaria. Take this to to Ever Grande. I'll be there shortly after you, wait for me there."

Altaria nodded and picked up the sack,taking off into the air.

"How are we doing this then?"

Joel smirked and let out a Charizard, who whipped it's flaming tail around to warm the chill air. Julia released a Magcargo, and the temperature immediately rocketed up. The grass started to steam and curl around the oozing lava. Mark let out smile of his own, and the very air seemed to explode as he sent out a Magmorter. Julia let out a low whistle of appreciation, before turning to face to two other ACEs.

"OK, Joel, you're on long range. You start a few smaller blazes along the route to spread, make it harder to contain. Mark, midrange. Set everything big enough to burn for longer than a few minutes, leave the bush and scrub to catch once we start leaving. I'll handle here, get the main body going. Meet Oldale way. Everyone has an emergency flyer? Good."

Joel climbed onto the back of his Charizard and the took off along the route at a speed that would likely have unseated an inexperienced rider. Mark and his Magmorter started running after them. Julia took one last look at the viridescent green forest around them.

"Magcargo, Tackle." she pointed at an old oak. The burning Pokémon bunched up, and then launched itself with surprising speed at the tree. The leaves turned black before the Magcargo was halfway there, and on contact the ancient wood practically boiled, spitting flames meters in every direction. The proximity to the Magcargo all but guaranteed that those embers would catch. Julia released her Skarmory and climbed on. She pointed out a new target to her Magcargo as the blaze slowly spread. She could see flashes of fire in the distance, where Joel was strafing trees with Flamethrower, and bright flashes much closer by, where Mark and his team worked as they moved.

She nodded in satisfaction. The league was right. This would discourage the weak willed excuses for trainers that were all that had been produced in the last few batches. They needed strong trainers with the will and determination to face the coming storm, not little rich boys who's daddy bought them a powerful team. With such a harsh challenge, so close to the start of the journey, many of the mere hobbyists would never taint her profession.

She worked in silence for a few more minutes, moving onwards whenever she thought the fire was well enough established, recalling the Magcargo and flying for a minute in a random direction before repeating the process. Just as she released the fire type for the forth time, there were distant shouts, back from where they'd come. Screams of alarm. Some early riser had spotted the light, the smoke in the sunlight just peaking over the mountainous horizon. Unfortunate. They needed to start leaving, and the fire wasn't nearly set enough yet.

She eyed the Magcargo for a moment, contemplatively, before fishing out it's Pokéball. With a deft movement, she cracked the two halves from each other, and dropped them. With a Magcargo left to run rampant, she was sure the fire would keep burning and subduing the Pokémon would take valuable time for the townsfolk already no doubt readying to fight the flames, even more so if they wished to capture rather than kill. All that was left was to get to the rendezvous point. She murmured to her Skarmory, and it took off, keeping as low as it could. She ignored the sudden look of pain and confusion from the fire type left behind with practised ease. It was not the first time she had sacrificed a Pokémon in the name of the mission. She doubted it would be her last.

She frowned as she reached the area Mark had been sent to. There were no fresh flashes of fire adding to the current glow, and she growled in impatience. That kid didn't have the temperament for a true ACE. If he'd backed out already, however, she was going to have... words.

She guided her Skarmory down into a small clearing, just far enough from the flames that the smoke did not hinder her view of the younger ACE, crouched by some bushes, doing something out of sight.

"Mark! Come one! We need this entire route burned before they can put it out. You dawdling isn't helping matters!"

Mark turned his head at her voice, and she saw the pain in his eyes. She was about to start shouting again, when he stood and turned to face her fully. The dull red firelight from his back glinted wetly of his crimson knife and illuminated a small, round body by his feet.

"I couldn't leave him to the flames. Not after I promised the girl. I had to make it quick." His voice was sad, but he shook himself, taking a breath and releasing his own flyer, an old, cantankerous Aerodactyl. He climbed on and took to the skies.

"Where do you think you're going? This stretch isn't nearly completed!"

Mark replied simply.

"Drac. Flamethrower."

Julia had to take to the air just to avoid the maelstrom of fire that erupted from the ancient Pokémon.

Oo===A1A===oO

Maggie stood, horrified, at the entrance to route 102. Guilt warred with worry on her face. Guilt, because if she hadn't asked the ACEs to help, maybe they wouldn't have been out there tonight, no doubt battling for survival in those hungry flames. Worry that those brave heroes would be hurt attempting to battle the inferno. As the fire roared into the sky higher with every second, as Norman and his trainees released their teams to try and combat the deadly heat, as flying Pokémon tried to escape the blaze and those without wings burned, Maggie whispered a promise to herself.

"One day, I'll be just like you. I'll make the world a better place."

So here we go, first of the Interlude chapters. Set roughly two months before Luke's send off, this hopefully gives a bit of insight into the world he lives in. It's not a nice place.

There will be a few more interludes scattered around the story, mostly snippets like this. Actual chapters will take a bit longer to put out I'm afraid, as I want each one to be about three times the size of this.

Reviews are read, constructive criticism will be taken into consideration, and... some third thing so that this feels more balanced.


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